The Blue Max
I recently discovered that George Peppard is dead. Why did nobody tell me? He died in 1994, and all this time I’ve been sitting on a great story involving Peppard and Ursula Andress. With Peppard out of the way, I very much doubt that the two other people involved in the story will complain.
The other two people involved were Ursula Andress, and Douglas Slocombe. Peppard and Andress starred in The Blue Max. Douglas Slocombe was the lighting cameraman, or cinematographer depending upon which side of the Atlantic you call home. The Blue Max was an 1966 British war film about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. It was directed by John Guillermin.
Ursula Andress, Dr No
Slocombe might, possibly, still be alive. He was born in 1913, so he’s 99 if he is still pottering down to the pub for a warm pint of bitter. I’m uncertain about this, but I can’t find on Google any mention of his demise.
I met him on TV commercial shoots a couple of times, including one for Dry Sack sherry, with Jack Gold as director, which is a story in its own right, and, possibly, material for another blog.
Stephen Spielberg and Douglas Slocombe
The first thing you notice when you meet Dougie is that he stammers. It’s quite a gentle one, and it doesn’t stop the conversation, although, in times of stress, it does get worse. He’s a very decent man, who wants everyone on his shoots to be happy, and is one of those unsettling lighting cameramen who very, very rarely use a light meter. Films of his which you might know include Raiders of The Lost Ark, Kind Hearts and Coronets, and The Blue Max.
The filming of The Blue Max did not go smoothly. Peppard and Andress did not click together. There was constant needle and bickering between the two of them. Was Peppard gay? I can’t think of any other credible reason other than him being out of his mind.
Eventually, the day came when the two of them were to be filmed in a sex scene shortly before Peppard’s character gets killed.
Ursula Andress and George Peppard hating each other
For this scene, the set was cleared, leaving just the director, the camera operator, the continuity girl who was, apart from Andress, the only girl there, and Douglas Slocombe.
Things did not go well. Peppard had deliberately chewed raw garlic the previous night.
Eventually Andress exploded, knowing that there was enough in the can for her not to have to continue with the charade.
She leapt out of bed as naked as the day she was born, and stormed off the set.
As she marched past Dougie, her breasts bouncing up and down, she said, “And the bastard didn’t even get an erection!!”
And Dougie replied, “W,w,w,…we all did, Ursula!!!”
I hope he is still alive. He is, or maybe was, a gentleman of the screen.
That’s absolutely brilliant.
“Why did nobody tell me”? Great grammatical skill you’ve got there.
Dougies had many anecdotes about the movie business and to me, this is one of the funniest (names not mentioned to protect the innocent and somewhat paraphrased from what I heard):
Dougie was doing the cinematography for a very well known director in the 60′s. The director (H), a known womaniser, was trying to “get closer” to the leading lady (Y), also a 60′s icon.
On one particular day of filming, “H” arranged a special lunch date with “Y”. His plan was to wine-and-dine her at a fancy restaurant then take her back to his apartment where he would hopefully seduce her. In order to provide the necessary time for this escapade, he set up a particularly difficult scene which involved a tracking shot through a couple of rooms and passageways into other rooms. The lighting was obviously going to be very complex.
Some of the crew, including Dougie, were trying desperately to protect “Y” from the attentions of “H”, given his reputation. They therefore knew that this extended setup on the scene would almost certainly give “H” the time to carry out his nefarious plan with “Y”.
With a smirk, “H” told Dougie “That will take you at least 3 hours to light”. When you are done, call me at my apartment and we’ll come back for the scene”. And with that, he whisked “Y” off to lunch.
Dougie pulled out all the stops and relates with a chuckle that “I had that scene lit in under an hour”. He then called the restaurant, where “H” and “Y” were still busy wrapping up lunch with dessert.
Under the money conscious eye of the producer, “H” had no other alternative but to return to the set with “Y”, given that the scene was ready to shoot. No shenanigans happened, and “Y”‘s innocence was saved for another day!
I love this! Many thanks. What’s your connection with Dougie? If you have any more stories, please post them. Best wishes, Stephen